Even though the loss against West Indies in Bridgetown have hugely disappointed Pakistani fans, however, there is one more chance for the team to create a remarkable history by defeating West Indies first time at their home.
Team Pakistan have this opportunity in the third and last test match of Dominica at Windsor`s Park. However, the question here is, “Can Misbah 11 easily pull-off a win in the last test?”
Situated on the eastern side of Roseau, Windsor Park was inaugurated in 2007. The first test match played at this ground was in July 2011 and as many as four test matches have been played there.
West Indian team have played against India, Australia and Zimbabwe there. The hosts have won one test match against Zimbabwe, lost two matches against Australia and drew it with India.Stats suggest that the side who have bowled first have won two tests whereas the team batting first has won once.
One common factor in all the four matches is that the pitch has remained supportive to the spinners. Windies spinner Shane Shillingford has taken 20 wickets in his two test matches; off-spinner Nathan Lyon of Australia has also bagged 10 wickets in his two matches.
The Windsor Park`s pitch has also been helpful for the seamers as Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc is third on the list of most wicket taken by a bowler, with eight wickets in two matches.
Other than these players, Devendra Bishoo have taken eight wickets in two matches, Marlon Samuels got seven wickets in three matches and Indian Harbhajan Singh took six wickets in a single match.
Certainly, these stats are good news for Pakistani skipper Misbahul Haq as he has got Yasir Shah in his squad who can prove dangerous to the Windies batting line-up.Cricket experts have opined that good assessment of weather conditions is important in winning at this ground; if the weather is dry and the sun is out, Pakistan should prefer to bat first in case it wins the toss, however, the Misbah 11 should immediately opt for bowling if the weather is humid.
They have also suggested that the respective captains must also seek in-swing from their fast bowlers along with their spinners in view of creating hard batting conditions for the other side.
Though both Misbah and Jason Holder will be first time captaining at this ground, however, the latter would have an edge as he would be supported by players like, Carlos Brathwaite, Kieran Powell, Shane Dowrich – who are familiar with the conditions.
Though for Misbah the ground is new but with the determination to end his career on a high note coupled with extensive experience, will he able to create a history?
All eyes will be on at the beautiful Windsor Park ground for this answer.
